This is my December!

Today, 1st December, marks the beginning of the end to 2011. We are left with a mere 31 days and counting to the start of a new year, new promises & renewed hope.

But the focus should not be on the coming year. No, not yet!

For me, I view the next 31 days as the most crucial time of the year. Simply put, we have 31 days to make the most of 2011 so that we may leave it as we see fit. For those who've had a tough year, you can either reflect on the past 11 months and spend the remaining days cursing your luck while the clock ticks down on your precious time, OR you can make use of these 31 days to make plans for the next year with optimism. For those who've enjoyed the past 11 months of their life, make it 12 & bring that joy into the next year.

You see, we decide how we want to live our life, how we want to start new years and end the old ones. It's too easy for us to be judgemental and cynical towards life. We always complain & linger over the past without ever looking forward, constantly looking back over our shoulders. Before we know it, we've never really enjoyed the scenery that passes us by on our journey. Sceneries that include family, friends and moments that can never be repeated.

For me, I'm going to try and make the most of the next 31 days. How about you?

I wanna be like Xavi Hernandez!

The supreme playmaker, the ultimate midfield maestro, the heart-beat of La Barca...

Every touch sublime, every turn an art, every pass an opportunity...

And every time I play, I just wanna forget my defensive instincts and just become the conductor, with the field as my stage and my team-mates as my orchestra. Unfortunately, I lack the opportunity and the ability. So I try to emulate another one of my footballing heroes - Alessandro Nesta. Hahahaha...

Age has not been kind to me physically with 2 injury ravaged ankles although I long to play with the enthusiasm of a 16 year old, the stamina of a 24 year old and the brains of a 30 year old. One out of 3 ain't that bad eh? No prizes for guessing which of the 3.

Standing at only 1.70m & weighing in at 66kg, what exactly makes Xavi stand out above the rest? - It's his vision and composure on the ball. No other midfielder exudes such a class post-Zidane. His awareness is simply superb, picking out team-mates almost instinctively, whether it's for Barca or La Rojas. That is why those 2 teams often struggle for ideas whenever he's unavailable.. such is his influence.

Sigh... Perhaps in 8 years time when I qualify to play for the veterans I may just get an opportunity to perform like Xavi. Until then, I have another 8 years to fine-tune my abilities!!!

KO-ed!

Ramblers SC will NOT, for the first time in 4 years, feature in the Chinese League Quarter-finals after a shock 1-0 defeat to Nibong Tebal United.

After 4 successive campaigns culminating in 3 quarter-finals and 1 semi-final appearance, the boys in blue failed to live up to their reputation in a difficult group comprising CRC, Timuran, Anak Malaysia, Bintang Baru, PYFC, Inpro SC & NT United. And I was devastated as anyone with the loss.

This year we had a good blend of youth and experience as we racked up 10 points from the first 5 games & sitting pretty at the top. So what went wrong? I am not here to find a scape-goat or to point fingers and create a hugeeee fuss but this is just my take on the entire tournament:

1. Formation & tactics - the essence of any team. Did we get it right? What were they in the first place? We didn't seem to have a style of play nor did we have any idea of what to do when we had the ball. Players were too static and the on-field movements weren't enough. We just didn't move as a unit from the back to the front. Too many loose balls were lost to the opposition as well. We played a 4-4-2 but we didn't understand how to play with the formation, to use its' strength and deal with its' weakness. All we knew was to fight and pump the ball forward. We were a good team because of it, but sadly we never looked like champions. Poay and Chien were the central cogs in a good machine but they struggled to impose themselves at times because the players around them couldn't adapt. That limited their creativity. There was no pass-and-move game( which they were more suited to). Brian Clough once said "Football is a simple game. You get the ball, pass and then move" We were definitely lacking that. 
2. Wing play - The absence of Ming on the wings was another deciding factor as he provides us with electrifying pace on the sides. The wingers seemed short of ideas and were mostly lost. In a 4-4-2, the wingers are to tuck in when we're defending and then move out wide when we attack. They also have the option to cross or cut in and shoot or pass but the decision to do so must be made prior to receiving the ball. There wasn't a change of pace or turn as well as they didn't know how to utilize their power, often wasting it on chasing lost causes and then burning out when we lost the ball. Their recovery was slow to say the least and this left the fullbacks exposed on many occasions. We conceded too many goals because of attacks from the sides. We lacked awareness, had poor anticipation & no creativity from the wings.
3. Blooding youth - the youth players came in to the team as champions of their Youth League. However, there was just 1 highlight - this wasn't the Youth league, this was the SENIOR league. The game, the demands, the pace, everything was just different. We had standouts like Ti Wei, Benson & Li Yoong. They deserved they're place (even if it was, at times, because there were no other standouts in their position). I am confident the experience will do them good & they will mature as better players in time. But did we rely too much on youth? Especially when it came to subs? We had seasoned campaigners on the sidelines. Seniors who fought together for the past 5 years. I personally thought they should have been given a chance - utilized. Yesterday I saw a moment which kinda p*ssed me off: A senior player (with very good control and game smarts) had control of the ball on the byline but as he made his move, he was shouted from the sidelines to pass the ball to a junior player eventhough the senior had total control of the situation. Do we have so little faith on our seniors?

We lost the game and the tournament - that is a fact. But we can still build for tomorrow and come back stronger. We fight as a team, win as a team and we lose as a team as well. We can be stronger, better... The decision rests on the team.

Past, Present and Future

My energy & enthusiasm feels so distant at the moment. Like a million miles away. Light years even.


I feel tired.. close to the point of just letting go of most things. And yet, deep down, the terrier in me refuses to give in, believing that with every passing moment, with every brick that life throws at me, I will survive. I have done it before & I shall do it again. I look back at those moments with proud nostalgia, parading the scars like a war veteran. But with every passing moment and thrown brick, I grow weary as well. Perhaps it serves as a reminder that age is catching up on me. It's as if life's salty winds are slowly but surely corroding the metal that makes up my soul with every gush and blow.

How did it ever come to this? - I have no idea. All I do know is that we have no control over the things that life throws at us, but we are responsible for how we want to react to it. So far I've been trying my best to manage every aspect of my life.. My job, my family, my relationship, my friends.

Unfortunately, my job has not been a bed of roses this past year. Probably more thorns than roses! Switching companies and finding myself thrust into the fray with very little support and high expectations, lacking good direction (or any direction at all!!!) & bereft of positive motivation coupled with extremist demands from a short-sighted HQ is the highlight of my career. A bad experience I should say but an experience nevertheless and I believe that I've grown richer with it.

I'm now contemplating a switch.. again. However, the fear that I might not be able to accomplish or meet the requirements of the targeted position has been constantly playing on my mind. I want a change. I need a change. But is it the right change? Can I do it? There's only one way to find out I guess...

Life Lessons I Learned on the Football Field

"Sport doesn't build character; it reveals it"

It was pretty straight forward - win the game and we have 1 hand on the trophy. 


Our opponents for the evening were De'Shang Nite and because they were languishing in the final 8th spot for Cup qualification, they had to win this game too which made it all the more difficult.


As I prep-ed myself up in goal for the 1st of 2 title deciding clashes, I knew I had to focus. Unfortunately, just like the past few weeks, I found that (focus) hard to do. And so it showed. 


The first 20 minutes were purely CCFC and we kept them pinned in their own half with 2 well taken goals from forgotten-man Wei and veteran terrier Han. And it got even better when they were reduced to 10 men when their captain & centre back was sent off for a vicious lunge on wing wizard Ming. But then our midfield colossus Max went down injured shortly after and 10 crazy minutes turned the game completely on its head & in their favor!


The first was when I failed to commit to aerial combat from a freekick and although I parried a close range header away, the rebound fell to a lurking player at the near post and he gleefully slammed it home. The second was a comedy of sorts (tho I found nothing funny about it), when I let a speculative long range effort bounce in front of me and out of my reach into the net. The expression on my team-mates faces said it all. They were disgusted.. as was I. 


The second half was spent chasing for that elusive winning goal and thankfully Jerome hit the winner with his newly bought Adidas boots to cap off an exciting evening whilst my goal was being bombarded with shots, freekicks & taunts from rival players and supporters. Even Ah Han had a go at me a few times. The opponents smelled blood from my 2 mistakes and they took their chances however they could but thankfully we kept the score in our favor but most importantly, here's what I learned:




Life Lesson #1:
Everyone has good days and bad days. Sometimes we will even have terrible I-don't-wanna-come-out days. There's no science for predicting when this will happen but life needs to go on because we don't just live for ourselves, other people depend on us too. Although I had a rare off day, I just couldn't give up because my team-mates were also counting on me.


Life Lesson #2:
Everyone makes mistakes. Sh*t happens. Get over it! Instead of beating myself up over the first half, I decided to just get it together & it proved much better as I came out more confidently to collect crosses and even produced a 1-on-1 save! 


Life Lesson #3:
Don't hide behind excuses! When I made those 2 mistakes, I immediately blamed everyone except myself. I blamed the bad week, the poor defence, the pitch, etc. But what I soon realized was that in order for me to solve the problem, I had to face the problem - ME! If we hide behind excuses, we will never be able to move forward because we'll be stuck with the same mistakes time & again.


Life Lesson #4:
Never let external factors tell you that you're not good enough. I had a bunch of rival players and supporters taunting me for my mistakes throughout the entire 2nd half. Whenever people tell us that we're not good enough, we usually just cave in & feel demotivated. Instead, we should be showing them how good we are. If I had given in to their taunting, I'm sure we would have lost the game by a big margin.


Life Lesson #5:
Reputation means NOTHING! People take their places & position for granted. So what if you've been great?! So what if you're top of the league?! The effort you've put in to build that reputation means nothing if we don't try our best in everything we do. And for those who are not really there yet, don't give up! If we run helter skelter when faced with tougher opposition, whether it's external or within us, we will NEVER progress. It's all about ATTITUDE. 


Needless to say, I had a very tiring week and day. But I'm glad I was able to derive some life lessons from what I went through in yesterday's match. Now for the Championship!